Ela: 49 Writers Weekly Round-up

It’s official!  Our totally cool and totally free “Your Alaska Online Travel ‘Zine” workshop for writers ages 12-15 will be held at the equally cool Teen Underground center at the Anchorage Loussac Library.  Our thanks to the Loussac Youth Services library staff and to East Coast travel writer Jenna Schnuer for this great opportunity, as well as to our Raven Words Summer partners at the Alaska State Writing Consortium and the wonderful people at Anchorage Rotary who made Teen Underground a reality.

We’ll take the first ten writers ages 12-15 who complete our application for this exciting workshop July 18-22.  The application deadline is July 6. And don’t forget the other great Raven Words Summer Youth Writing Workshops: Comic Adventures; Jumpstart Your Write Brain; and Raven and Tigers and Bears.

Our Memoir Weekend with Kim Rich, begins tonight, June 24, at 6:30 p.m.  Last-minute registrants are fine.  And screenwriters, be sure to register for Screenwriters Roundtable with Dave Hunsaker on July 11 at 6:30 p.m.  Dave’s a busy guy, but he has offered to take time while he’s in Anchorage to share insights from his extensive screenwriting experience, including work with directors Robert Redford and Mel Gibson.  Bring a treatment or a beat sheet or a story idea you’d like to adapt for film.  With the group, Dave plans to discuss ideas, identify problems, and spitball solutions.  He’s planned a format that’s unstructured enough to meet the needs of the individuals as the class considers the craft of screenwriting as well as the business. Some familiarity with screenwriting is assumed.

We’re enjoying some great new volunteers and looking forward to getting to know our summer intern, Kayla Beth Moore, who arrives next month.  If you’re looking for ways you can help, here are few to keep in mind:
Got a new high tech digital camera and you’ve mothballed the old one?  As long as it’s in working condition, our Raven Words Youth Program could put that old digital camera to good use. We’ll even give you a receipt for your taxes.  Email 49writers@gmail.com to arrange for a pick-up.

We’ve set up two designated funds to which you can donate.  One is the John Haines Memorial Poetry Fund, set up in memory of Alaska’s venerable writer to support instruction, events, and scholarships for Alaska’s poets.  The other is the Raven Words Youth Program Fund, to support our expanding youth outreach efforts.
And speaking of expanding programs, we can always use good volunteers.  Our volunteer form is the best way to connect with us about opportunities.
Amid this whirlwind of activity, we’ve also got writing and publishing news.  Deb Vanasse’s latest book Lucy’s Dance (Lugiim Yuraa in the Yup’ik edition) has launched with the University of Alaska Press.  It’s distributed by the University of Chicago Press and is available in fine bookstores throughout Alaska as well as online.

Also, Bill Streever has a great piece in this week’s Wall Street Journal about a moulin descent at Matanuska Glacier.

Issue Number Four (Vol. 2 Issue 2) of Cirque is now online. It is on sale at  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/206965
The deadline for submissions for Issue Number Five is September 21.

On Tuesday June 28, 7-8pm, Anchor Park Reading Group will be meeting at Barnes and Noble, 200 E. Northern Lights, Anchorage.

Kris Farmen will be signing copies of his new book, The Devil’s Share, at the historic Hope Library on Saturday July 2, 11-4, as part of their First Saturdays series, and then again at Fireside Books in Palmer on Saturday July 9, 1-2pm, as part of their local author event.

The fourth annual Summer 2011 Northern Renaissance Arts & Sciences Reading Series, held in conjunction with UAA’s Department of Creative Writing & Literary Arts, MFA Program in Creative Writing, begins Sunday July 10, and continues through Tuesday July 19—-a total of NINE (9) literary evenings for you to choose from!
The series opens with visiting writer Richard Rodriguez, (contributing editor, Harper’s Magazine; author of Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez; Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father; and Brown: The Last Discovery of America). For nearly 20 years, Rodriguez was a television essayist on the PBS “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”   At present, he is writing a book (for Viking) on the “Ecology of Monotheism,” about the impact of the desert on the experience of God for the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).

All programs are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.  Location:  UAA Fine Arts, 150, except where noted.  Doors open at 7:30 p.m.  UAA’s Campus Bookstore will be on-hand selling books from visiting writers, guest speakers, and MFA faculty authors.  The readings begin at 8pm and conclude by 9pm.
On Monday, July 18, visiting writer and culture critic, Curtis White, will present.  Over a 30-year career, White has published 11 books and over 100 stories, essays, and reviews.  Notable among his works of cultural criticism are The Middle Mind (Harper-Collins), The Spirit of Disobedience, and The Barbaric Heart.  He has published frequently in Harper’s Magazine, Orion, The Village Voice, and Playboy.

Please continue to check CWLA’s website for the latest information.